Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1887-01-15
Fantastic 5coms.
TO the Chronicle.

To the Chronicle
The general cry both in town ard
country is "hard times, "hard times,
and yet again "hard times, and they |
hard, harder than have ever known
before, at least in Montgomery county
The farmers are literally pressed TO the
wall and the merchants, who depend
upon them are suffering in consequence.
The warehousemen are 10th to let out
their money unless the party desiring
the loan is strictly "giltedged" and as a
consequence those who have heretofore
been dependent upon advances on their
crops as a means for tiding them over
from year to the next, are in bad fix.
1t is only with the farming commu-
nifty, however, and those dependent di-
rectly upon the farmers, that are re-
duced to straits. The iron men and
the spectators are wallowing in wealth
and manipulating booms in every d.
riction. Building paper towns, boost
ing the stock up to unheard OF figures
and then unloading upon the suckers.
And The suckers will bite irrespective
OF the direction from which the wind
may blow. The great Lord has blessed
the spectators this year for the fool
crop Is unusually abundant. The learn
ed Herr Schupp once wrote, that there
ARE more fools in the world than hu-
man being" and the cynical man with
the barbarous name, was not so very
far wrong. at least in so far as his re-
mark may now be considered as appli-
cable to Tennessee.
| am moved to these observations by
the eargerness with which nearly every
man in the State with little brains,
and some money, rushes into wild spec
ulations set on foot by some sharpers
who will buy up an old red kill side
lay it off into town lots, give it a high
sounding name, pay large sums to the
newspapers for column after column OIL
bald headed slush about its being inevi-
tably the future metropolis, and all that
issue highly:inhamed looking Autograph
maps, locating gas and water work:
and showing forty or fifty prospective
railroads. Then the projectors begin
to pull in the fresh fish which are no
slow to bite at the gorgeous bait. The
manipulators unload on the foodtide
and the whole concern collapses. Tit
poor devil who expected to realize mil
lions on his investment sneaks home
if the mortgage which he gave on hi
home to raise money to invest in th,
grand scheme hasn't been forecloset
with the lights all knocked out of tn
bay window of his breeches. The orig
inators of the swindle blithely divid
their ducats and set more springs Il
catch woodcock.
The men who are engaged in thes
schemes in Tennessee, as philan
thropists and claim a monopoly OF al
the spirit of progress and enlighten
ment OF the State, and denounce as
Bourbon a fossil and an enemy to tru
prosperity, any one who raises voic
against their methods, compared t
which keeping gambling house,
felony under the law, is more res pecta
bic and equally honorable, for the ma
who is cleaned out in a Faro Ban
can recover his money by suit, Will
the victim OF these sharks has no RI
course either in law or equity.
Ifany real substantial development
could grow, or would grow, out of thes
booms, / would throw up my hat an
add my hurran to the general howl. BIT
such is notthe object and no such r,
suit sin contemplation among tn
prime movers. Their object is simpl
and purely self ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
make money for themselves, no matte
who may be impoverished. Adding
the pile of dollars already in the pool
cts OF spectators never yet developed
country and never will. From tt
wreck of matter that will inevitab
come a Gould or a Vanderbilt ms
emerge, but every dollar of his none
will have been wrong from some OF
else, from some one who needlit mo-
and who if he had retained it woul
have applied it to better purpose.
FAIRFAX
On the 9th day of January 1SS
Old Aunt Maria Atkinson bett